Referring to FIG. 16, there is shown one of prior art slide opening type (or a drawer type, top loading) dishwashers disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3129318. As shown, the slide opening type dishwasher includes washer tub 14 having an open top and cabinet 15 having an open front. Washer tub 14 is coupled with cabinet 15 in such a manner that it can be slidably moved into and out of cabinet 15 through the open front of cabinet 15. Such sliding movement of washer tub 14 is achieved by a slide assembly. The slide assembly has a pair of first slide rails 16 (only one shown) secured on both inner side surfaces of cabinet 15 and a pair of second slide rails 17 (only one shown) fixed on both outer side surfaces of washer tub 14. Between first and second slide rails 16 and 17 are provided rotating bodies, e.g., ball bearings. This allows second slide rails 17 fixed at washer tub 14 to slidably move along first slide rails 16, enabling washer tub 14 to be smoothly extracted from and retracted into cabinet 15.
The slide opening type dishwasher further includes lid or inner cover 11 installed at an inner upper part of cabinet 15. Lid 11 moves down to close the open top of washer tub 14 when washer tub 14 is accommodated in cabinet 15. This prevents washing fluid spouted from wash nozzle 8 from being dispersed out of washer tub 14 (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-275916). Lid 11 is held by cabinet 15 via a link mechanism (not shown) and is biased toward an upper front direction by a bias means (not shown). Just before washer tub 14 is completely retracted into cabinet 15, lid 11 begins to be biased against the biasing force of the bias means by an interlocking device (not shown) installed at washer tub 14 to move downwards by the link mechanism, thereby closing the open top of washer tub 14. When washer tub 14 is extracted from cabinet 15, lid 11 is released from the interlocking device thereof. Therefore, lid 11 moves along the upper front direction to open the open top of washer tub 14.
The dishwasher described above suffers from certain drawbacks. For example, even when washer tub 14 is fully extracted from cabinet 15, a rear section thereof still remains inside cabinet 15. For this reason, it is rather difficult to charge and discharge the dishware in and from the rear section.
In order to solve these problems, washer tub 14 may be configured such that a top end of the rear section of washer tub 14 is located in front of the fore end of cabinet 15 when washer tub 14 is fully pulled out from cabinet 15. In this case, however, a gap will be opened between the rear end of washer tub 14 and the fore end of cabinet 15.
In such a construction, when washer tub 14 is extracted from cabinet 15 to a location where there will be a gap therebetween, the rear section of washer tub 14 may be lifted if a heavy load of the dishware is charged. Under the circumstances, when washer tub 14 is pushed back into cabinet 15, the top end of the rear section of washer tub 14 may be interfered with lid 11 as shown in FIG. 17, hindering washer tub 14 from being smoothly restored back into cabinet 15.